Blast kills 16 Pakistani police cadets, NATO trucks bombed

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ISLAMABAD — Bombings targeted a Pakistani police station and set a NATO fuel convoy ablaze on August 30, killing 16 cadets in the northwest’s Swat Valley.

The two blasts occurred hours and hundreds of miles apart. Pakistani officials said the Taliban were increasing their attacks in the wake of territory lost to the military and the death of their top leader in a CIA missile strike near the Afghan border.

At least 16 cadets died on August 30 after a suicide bomber entered a courtyard where they were training, in Swat's main town of Mingora, and detonated his explosives, local government official Atifur Rehman said. It was the deadliest attack since the army offensive ended Taliban rule there.

The attacker may have donned a uniform and slipped into the station posing as a recruit, Deputy Inspector General Idrees Khan of the district police said. He blamed the attack on the decision to relax daily curfew in the area for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Police quickly blocked off roads and ordered residents to stay indoors.

The army's offensive to take back the Swat valley was the largest in years, following periodic peace deals with the militants. The Taliban's takeover of parts of Swat, a former tourist enclave, about two years ago became a symbol of their expansion into the country.

Pakistan's army asserts that it is restoring order to the valley and surrounding areas, but this attack indicates that while the Taliban may no longer be able to impose their harsh interpretation of Islam there, life is far from normal for the hundreds of thousands who have returned home after fleeing the fierce three months of fighting.

Provincial minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour blamed the Taliban for the suicide attack and said Pakistanis must be "mentally prepared" for more bombings until the Taliban are removed.[AP]